Sunday, November 30, 2008

"Ever since the continents started interacting politically, some five hundred years ago, Eurasia has been the center of world power."- (p. xiii)

"... But in the meantime, it is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus of also challenging America. The formulation of a comprehensive and integrated Eurasian geostrategy is therefore the purpose of this book.” (p. xiv)

"In that context, how America 'manages' Eurasia is critical. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world's three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance at the map also suggests that control over Eurasia would almost automatically entail Africa's subordination, rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania geopolitically peripheral to the world's central continent. About 75 per cent of the world's people live in Eurasia, and most of the world's physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for about three-fourths of the world's known energy resources." (p.31)

“Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization." (p.35)

“The momentum of Asia's economic development is already generating massive pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new sources of energy and the Central Asian region and the Caspian Sea basin are known to contain reserves of natural gas and oil that dwarf those of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico, or the North Sea." (p.125)

"In the long run, global politics are bound to become increasingly uncongenial to the concentration of hegemonic power in the hands of a single state. Hence, America is not only the first, as well as the only, truly global superpower, but it is also likely to be the very last." (p.209)

"Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multi-cultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat." (p. 211)

Zbigniew Brzezinski's Background

According to his resume, Zbigniew Brzezinski lists the following achievements:

Harvard Ph.D. in 1953

Counselor, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Professor of American Foreign Policy, Johns Hopkins University

National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter (1977-81)

Trustee and founder of the Trilateral Commission

International advisor of several major US/Global corporations

Associate of Henry Kissinger

Under Ronald Reagan - member of NSC-Defense Department Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy

Under Ronald Reagan - member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board

Past member, Board of Directors, The Council on Foreign Relations

1988 - Co-chairman of the Bush National Security Advisory Task Force.

Brzezinski is also a past attendee and presenter at several conferences of the Bilderberger group - a non-partisan affiliation of the wealthiest and most powerful families and corporations on the planet.

The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski – More Quotes

"...The last decade of the twentieth century has witnessed a tectonic shift in world affairs. For the first time ever, a non-Eurasian power has emerged not only as a key arbiter of Eurasian power relations but also as the world's paramount power. The defeat and collapse of the Soviet Union was the final step in the rapid ascendance of a Western Hemisphere power, the United States, as the sole and, indeed, the first truly global power...” (p. xiii)

"... But in the meantime, it is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus of also challenging America. The formulation of a comprehensive and integrated Eurasian geostrategy is therefore the purpose of this book.” (p. xiv)

"The attitude of the American public toward the external projection of American power has been much more ambivalent. The public supported America's engagement in World War II largely because of the shock effect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.” (pp 24-5)

"For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia... Now a non-Eurasian power is preeminent in Eurasia - and America's global primacy is directly dependent on how long and how effectively its preponderance on the Eurasian continent is sustained.” (p.30)

"America's withdrawal from the world or because of the sudden emergence of a successful rival - would produce massive international instability. It would prompt global anarchy." (p. 30)

"In that context, how America 'manages' Eurasia is critical. Eurasia is the globe's largest continent and is geopolitically axial. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world's three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance at the map also suggests that control over Eurasia would almost automatically entail Africa's subordination, rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania geopolitically peripheral to the world's central continent. About 75 per cent of the world's people live in Eurasia, and most of the world's physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for 60 per cent of the world's GNP and about three-fourths of the world's known energy resources." (p.31)

“It is also a fact that America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's power, especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization." (p.35)

"Two basic steps are thus required: first, to identify the geostrategically dynamic Eurasian states that have the power to cause a potentially important shift in the international distribution of power and to decipher the central external goals of their respective political elites and the likely consequences of their seeking to attain them;... second, to formulate specific U.S. policies to offset, co-opt, and/or control the above..." (p. 40)

"...To put it in a terminology that harkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together." (p.40)

"Henceforth, the United States may have to determine how to cope with regional coalitions that seek to push America out of Eurasia, thereby threatening America's status as a global power." (p.55)

"Uzbekistan, nationally the most vital and the most populous of the central Asian states, represents the major obstacle to any renewed Russian control over the region. Its independence is critical to the survival of the other Central Asian states, and it is the least vulnerable to Russian pressures." (p. 121)

[Referring to an area he calls the "Eurasian Balkans" and a 1997 map in which he has circled the exact location of the current conflict - describing it as the central region of pending conflict for world dominance] "Moreover, they [the Central Asian Republics] are of importance from the standpoint of security and historical ambitions to at least three of their most immediate and more powerful neighbors, namely Russia, Turkey and Iran, with China also signaling an increasing political interest in the region. But the Eurasian Balkans are infinitely more important as a potential economic prize: an enormous concentration of natural gas and oil reserves is located in the region, in addition to important minerals, including gold." (p.124)

"The world's energy consumption is bound to vastly increase over the next two or three decades. Estimates by the U.S. Department of energy anticipate that world demand will rise by more than 50 percent between 1993 and 2015, with the most significant increase in consumption occurring in the Far East. The momentum of Asia's economic development is already generating massive pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new sources of energy and the Central Asian region and the Caspian Sea basin are known to contain reserves of natural gas and oil that dwarf those of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico, or the North Sea." (p.125)

"Once pipelines to the area have been developed, Turkmenistan's truly vast natural gas reserves augur a prosperous future for the country's people.” (p.132)

"In fact, an Islamic revival - already abetted from the outside not only by Iran but also by Saudi Arabia - is likely to become the mobilizing impulse for the increasingly pervasive new nationalisms, determined to oppose any reintegration under Russian - and hence infidel - control." (p. 133).

"For Pakistan, the primary interest is to gain Geostrategic depth through political influence in Afghanistan - and to deny to Iran the exercise of such influence in Afghanistan and Tajikistan - and to benefit eventually from any pipeline construction linking Central Asia with the Arabian Sea." (p.139)

"Turkmenistan... has been actively exploring the construction of a new pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea..." (p.145)

"It follows that America's primary interest is to help ensure that no single power comes to control this geopolitical space and that the global community has unhindered financial and economic access to it." (p148)

"China's growing economic presence in the region and its political stake in the area's independence are also congruent with America's interests." (p.149)

"America is now the only global superpower, and Eurasia is the globe's central arena. Hence, what happens to the distribution of power on the Eurasian continent will be of decisive importance to America's global primacy and to America's historical legacy." (p.194)

"Without sustained and directed American involvement, before long the forces of global disorder could come to dominate the world scene. And the possibility of such a fragmentation is inherent in the geopolitical tensions not only of today's Eurasia but of the world more generally." (p.194)

"With warning signs on the horizon across Europe and Asia, any successful American policy must focus on Eurasia as a whole and be guided by a Geostrategic design." (p.197)

"That puts a premium on maneuver and manipulation in order to prevent the emergence of a hostile coalition that could eventually seek to challenge America's primacy..." (p. 198)

"The most immediate task is to make certain that no state or combination of states gains the capacity to expel the United States from Eurasia or even to diminish significantly its decisive arbitration role." (p. 198)

"In the long run, global politics are bound to become increasingly uncongenial to the concentration of hegemonic power in the hands of a single state. Hence, America is not only the first, as well as the only, truly global superpower, but it is also likely to be the very last." (p.209)

"Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multi-cultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat." (p. 211)

Monday, November 24, 2008

UN soldier in Lebanon trades her blue beret for a veilSep 12, 2008MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (AFP) — Sylvia Monika Wyszomirska is a Catholic from Poland, but in an effort to integrate better into south Lebanon's conservative society she has traded her UN peacekeeper's beret for a headscarf during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan."Out of respect for the environment I work in, I feel I need to try to integrate myself" during Ramadan, said 37-year-old Wyszomirska who has been stationed in the country for four months."And since my contingent is deployed in a Muslim area, I have decided to wear the hijab," the Muslim veil, over military fatigues, the mother of a little girl told AFP (More)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Jane Stillwater, a 64-year-old citizen journalist who says she loves all religions and is a practicing "Catholic/Christian/Hindu/ Muslim/Buddist," faces East as she does her evening prayer in Berkeley on Tuesday. Chronicle photo by Kurt Rogers

Just wanted to keep this in mind after watching an interview on Yahoo. She has bi-racial kids. (Future interview for Kenyans Abroad)

Minneh K. Kaneh, Lead Counsel, Legal Vice Presidential Unit (VPU), World BankMs. Kane, a Kenyan national, has worked at the World Bank since January 1988, and at present serves as a lead counsel in the Legal VPU. Focusing mainly on legal and judicial reform issues, she is currently working on projects and /or sector assessments in Kenya, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Prior to joining the Bank, Ms. Kane worked as a barrister in Kenya for Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews, the oldest and, at the time, the largest, law firm in East Africa. She handled corporate and commercial matters taking cases to the High Court and other courts in Kenya. Ms. Kane has a master's degree in law from Harvard Law School. She is a barrister-at-law of Grays Inn, London, and an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She has a B.A. with honors in English law and French law from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England and a diploma in French law from the Université de Paris-Sud, Faculté de droit de Sceaux, Paris, France.

This was very moving and I wondered if the swimming pool was finished

From Sr. Pauline:

"As you know I have recently celebrated my Golden Jubilee 50 years as a Loreto Sister. To mark this achievement I have launched a SWIMMING POOL FOR LORETO NYAKATO (Mwanza, Tanzania) project. I am appealing to you my past students, parents and teachers to help me to realize this dream I have for our children in Nyakato. I believe that our combined efforts can bring this about. The target is $50,000 and the goal is a swimming pool by the end of my Golden Jubilee Year.

In Tanzania, a swimming pool in a school is not only unheard of, but is not even in their imagination that such a thing could be possible. Yet I believe that a swimming pool would do so much to help our girls to gain self-confidence. Drownings in the lake are common because no one knows how to swim so this is another reason why a swimming pool is needed.

I want our girls to know that they are as good as young people anywhere in the world, and to have the confidence to face the world as well-equipped equals of Loreto students world-wide. They have already left their Mwanza contemporaries far behind because of the unique Loreto education which they are receiving. But there is still a lot of catching up to be done before they will have reached the full flowering of their talents and personalities which I believe they are capable of. A swimming pool for Loreto Nyakato is just one of the ways by which this catching up will happen.

I enjoyed your article with a lot of reservations. I googled your name to get a better understanding of who you are. What I found out was a bit interesting and I wonder if you have a problem with being defined as a Palestinian, who grew up in Saudi Arabia and schooled in Egypt. Can we say that your idea of pride would have been different if you were a Saudi national or you had full citizenship in Palestine? I hope you don’t see my view as a personal attach, but just an honest individual observation

I am not a scholar to claim there has been a study, but it is a fact that many non-Saudi Muslims who were born and raised in that "Muslim country" have a negative feeling towards expressions of national pride. When it comes to British citizens (Christian and European) many would say that, the British are proud of their Britishness, but they don't throw it in your face and treat others with disgust. It is true there might be some lingering racism, but it is a FACT the British have basic HUMAN respect. The British do recognize your citizenship even if you are a Hindu. Comparing that to Saudi citizens (white, brown and black) I don't think you would disagree with what many born and raised non-Saudi Muslims would say. I am not claiming you were born in Saudi Arabia, but just in case you were, I can imagine how good it would feel if you were recognized and respected as a Saudi national.

The point I am trying to make is not to disagree with your theological explanation, but to bring you to what OUR MUSLIM reality looks like in the so-called Christian WEST. Could you or any of those Muslim scholars make a similar argument in the outskirts of Makka or Madina. There is nothing wrong with promoting and teaching our religion, but once in a while we have to be honest with the reality we are in. Quite often we select issues and hot topics that do not serve Muslims well, but put many of us on the wrong side of “fighting social justice for all.”

Is it wrong for an Indian Muslim to say, “Yes, I live in the Dubai and I am very proud of the Muslim-British cricket team captain.” For someone in your position, I totally believe your priorities are off the “Serving-Muslim Well” mark. Please do read my letter with the understanding that, we are on the same side and want the best for Humanity, Muslim or non-Muslim. Let me conclude by saying that I am a proud naturalized American citizen and a proud father raising two American kids. I cannot allow anyone to take that away from them.

Interesting vindication and not all Muslims are on the “Us Vs Them” train. At a Muslim conference in the USA, “Dr. Alkhawaga, a psychiatrist, said the rhetoric is "very troubling." In fact, he proposed that the integration of pure Islam with American culture at its best would make "a perfect marriage."

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Kibaki must be held responsible for the bloodshed.
ECK has no excuse, they too can be charged for complicity to commit genocide.
Those who are looking at the tribal hatred and murder might be naive to try to blame Raila, but the truth is Kibaki number 2, must be stopped by any means necessary. The signs are very clear, "A Tribal Dictatorship."
Kenyans had no problem in the last election when Kibaki, a Kikuyu ran against Uhuru, another Kikuyu.
It is time for Kikuyus to stand up and smell the chai. Kikuyus are the poorest and the most oppressed. Shoot to Kill has always been used against Kikuyus "Del Monte."
The only matatus that must go to the police station for a strip search, are the ones going to Kikuyuland.
There are more Kikuyus in prison than any other group. Kikuyus just like they rejected Uhuru and what he stood for, can reject Kibaki for trying to bring back the KANU type dictatorship. Raila and Luos should also be very careful when making statements about the election. Kenyans did not vote for Raila the Luo; Kenyans voted for Raila the ODM nominee.